Locks, notably for vehicles



Feb. 8, 1966 PER s LOCKS, NOTABLY FOR VEHICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1, 1963 Lucia; n

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill/Il LOCKS, NOTABLY FOR VEHICLES Feb. 8, 1966 Filed July 1, 1965 In venfor P Lac/[an Del r-as B flaw, (UM, hit [W 14% i'prnays Feb. 8, 1966 PERAS LOCKS, NOTABLY FOR VEHICLES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 1 1965 In ve ni'o r s a a7 n r we 4 P A n e f x Z w AM NJ W United States Patent 3,233,931 LOCKS, NOTABLY FOR VEHICLES Lucien Pei-as, Billancourt, France, assignor to Regie National des Usines Renault, Billancourt, France Filed July 1, 1963, Ser. No. 291,817 Claims priority, application France, Aug. 14, 1962, 906,992, Patent 1,345,593 3 Claims. (Cl. 292-123) This invention relates to locks and has specific reference to improvements in the design of locks which are applicable more particularly to vehicle doors. The improvements constituting the subject-matter of this invention consist in providing a lock wherein the two essential component elements, i.e. the keeper and the bolt, are movable.

These movable elements are coplanar and adapted to pivot about axes parallel to the hinge axis.

With this horizontal arrangement, the thickness of the lock component elements is no more limited by the door thickness.

Moreover, in a lock according to this invention the distance between the safety or half-cock position and the full-cock position may be increased considerably.

The risk of accidental opening of the door equipped with this lock is minimized. If a door deformation takes place, the movable elements can be shifted within certain limits without impairing, to a certain extent, their mutual locking efiiciency.

Similarly, variations in the tolerances in the steel-work both in the doors and in the body of the vehicle are absorbed more easily.

In order to afford a clearer understanding of this invention and of the manner in which the same may be carried out in practice, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a section taken along a plane perpendicular to the hinge axis of the door and containing the bolt and keeper elements;

FIGURE 2 is a section taken upon the line a-a of FIG. 1; and

FIGURES 3, 4, 5 and 6 are sections similar to FIG. 1 but showing diagrammatically the lock component elements in the closed, half-open, fully open and safety or half-cock positions respectively.

Referring to the drawings and notably to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reference numerals 1 and 2 designate respectively the door-frame upright and door proper pivoted about hinge means having their axes perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.

The lock comprises essentially two elements, i.e. a keeper 3 and a bolt 4 which are pivotally mounted on pins parallel to the hinge axes.

The keeper 3 has a hook-shaped curved end portion or heel 7 adapted to engage the bolt, and also an extension 8 constantly urged by a hairpin spring 9.

The bolt 4 comprises a safety or half-cock notch 10, a full-cock notch 11 and a third notch 12 for limiting its pivotal movement. A link 13 is pivoted at 14 on said bolt and connected to an external control handle 15 by means of a rod 16 screwed in said link. This rod 16 has a T- shaped end portion 17 engaged in a slot 18 formed in said handle 15; a compression coil spring 19 bearing against the aforesaid link 13 with one end and against the door 2 with its other end constantly urges the control assembly to the position illustrated in FIG. 1.

Patented Feb. 8, 1966 A rubber pad 20 formed with a frustoconical projection 20' receives the rod 16 therethrough for centering the handle in the inoperative position in the corresponding shaped cavity 21 pressed or otherwise formed in the door 2.

The opposite end 22 of the door handle is mounted on the door by means of a screw 23 and two rubber grommets 24 constitute the handle hinge.

The heel 7 of keeper 3 is formed with a nose 22 and the bolt 4 is formed with cam faces 23, 24 and 25.

Assuming that the door is closed, the nose 22 of the keeper engages the notch 11 of the bolt (see FIG. 3). To open the door, the handle 15 is pulled outwards so as to pivot same about its elastic hinge mounting 24; the handle 15 carries along the link 16 which causes in turn the bolt 4 about its pivot pin 14, thus disengaging the nose 22 from notch 11 and releasing the door, which can be opened freely. Referring to FIG. 4, showing a diagrammatic view of the lock of which only the keeper and bolt are represented, it will be seen that when the handle is pulled in the direction of the arrow A the bolt rotates in the counter-clockwise direction, and that the keeper nose 22 before leaving the notch 11 of the bolt, resumes in this notch the position shown in FIG. 4. Once the nose 22 is fully released, continuing the traction on handle 15 (in the direction of the arrow A) will permit the full opening of the door (see FIG. 5 showing the controlled full opening of the door).

To re-close the door either by pushing same from outside, or pulling it from inside the vehicle by means of a suitable inner control handle (not shown), the nose 22 of the keeper slides on the cam face 23 of the bolt and engages the safety or half-cock notch 10 (see FIG. 6). As the closing movement is continued, the nose 22 slide on cam face 24 of the bolt and drops into the notch 11 to close the door completely (see FIG. 1).

Stop means are provided at 26, 27 and 28 for limiting the movements of the bolt and keeper.

Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the invention and appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for latching a door to a fixed frame comprising a bolt member pivotably mounted to the jamb face of said door and defining a cam surface and at least two notched surfaces; a keeper member pivotably mounted to the jamb face of said frame and defining a nose portion; means urging said keeper member into engagement with said bolt member; means to rotate said bolt member in relation to said keeper member upon the opening of said door, said bolt member and said keeper member being so located as to present upon closing of said door, said cam surface and said notched surfaces to the nose portion of said keeper member to latch said door in a closed position and provide a safety latch when said door is partially opened; said rotating means comprising a handle pivotably connected at one end to said door, a linking member connected at one end to said bolt member and at the other end to the free end of said handle, and resilient means mounted on said linking member urging the free end of said handle into engagement with said door; a frusto-conical projection formed in said door through 3 4 which said linking member extends; and a rubber pad References Cited by the Examiner engaging the door surface and having a portion extend- H ing through said projection and being engaged by said UNHED STATES PATENTS linking member, said pad also being engaged by the op- 2,174,078 9/1939 Burgen 292-332 erative end of said handle. 5 2,249,644 7/ 1941 Anderson 292122 2. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said bolt mem- 2,322,892 6/ 1943 Springer 70-449 her and said keeper member are each movable about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of said door. JOSEPH D SEERS, P i E i 3. The mechanism of claim 1 whereby the mutual l'eaction of the bolt member and keeper member pass BENSON WOQD Emmmer' through the axis of rotation of said bolt member. J. R.-MOSES, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MECHANISM FOR LATCHING A DOOR TO A FIXED FRAME COMPRISING A BOLT MEMBER PIVOTABLY MOUNTED TO THE JAMB FACE OF SAID DOOR AND DEFINING A CAM SURFACE AND AT LEAST TWO NOTCHED SURFACES; A KEEPER MEMBER PIVOTABLY MOUNTED TO THE JAMB FACE OF SAID FRAME AND DEFINING A NOSE PORTION; MEANS URGING SAID KEEPER MEMBER INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID BOLT MEMBER; MEANS TO ROTATE SAID BOLT MEMBER IN RELATION TO SAID KEEPER MEMBER UPON THE OPENING OF SAID DOOR, SAID BOLT MEMBER AND SAID KEEPER MEMBER BEING SO LOCATED AS TO PRESENT UPON CLOSING OF SAID DOOR, SAID CAM SURFACE AND SAID NOTCHED SURFACES TO THE NOSE PORTION OF SAID KEEPER MEMBER TO LATCH SAID DOOR IN A CLOSED POSITION AND PROVIDE A SAFETY LATCH WHEN SAID DOOR IS PARTIALLY OPENED; SAID ROTATING MEANS COMPRISING A HANDLE PIVOTABLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO SAID DOOR, A LINKING MEMBER CONNECTED AT ONE END TO SAID BOLT MEMBER AND AT THE OTHER END TO THE FREE END OF SAID HANDLE, AND RESILIENT MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID LINKING MEMBER URGING THE FREE END OF SAID HANDLE INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID DOOR; A FRUSTO-CONICAL PROJECTION FORMED IN SAID DOOR THROUGH WHICH SAID LINKING MEMBER EXTENDS; AND A RUBBER PAD ENGAGING THE DOOR SURFACE AND HAVING A PORTION EXTENDING THROUGH SAID PROJECTION AND BEING ENGAGED BY SAID LINKING MEMBER, SAID PAD ALSO BEING ENGAGED BY THE OPERATIVE END OF SAID HANDLE. 